The 135th Canton Fair will be held in three phases from April 15 to May 5, with the online platform operating as usual. The fair covers 1.55 million square meters, divided into 55 exhibition areas. The total number of exhibition booths is about 74,000, including 72,000 for export and 1,557 for import. There will be 29,000 exhibitors, including 28,600 exporting exhibitors and 680 importing exhibitors, according to Zhou Shanqing, spokesman for the fair on April 13.
In this session, there will be 2,606 branded enterprises and over 4,300 new exhibitors, with the share of private enterprises increasing to 91 percent. It is expected that more than 1 million new products, over 450,000 green and low-carbon products, and over 250,000 independent intellectual property products will be exhibited on-site.
Meanwhile, this fair has also expanded the sources of import exhibitions. The exhibition area for the import exhibition covers 30,000 square meters. 680 international enterprises from 50 countries and regions will participate in the exhibition, 64 percent of which are BRI partner countries.
In addition, the fair has set up a cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot area and overseas warehouse display area for the first time, covering an area of 3,000 square meters.
According to Zhou, this session has taken multiple measures to attract investment. As of April 13, 144,000 overseas buyers from 215 countries and regions had pre-registered, with an increase of 21.4 percent in the United States, 13 percent in OECD countries, 24.7 percent in Middle East countries, 45.9 percen in BRI partner countries and 15.5 percent in RCEP countries. 288 leading enterprises as well as industrial and commercial institutions have confirmed their attendance, an increase of 21.5 percent over the same period of the previous session.
The fair has continued to optimize its online platform, enhancing 47 functions to better help balance supply and demand.
Moreover, the fair has also worked to improve its service efficiency. First, it improves the efficiency of certificate handling. It continues to implement advanced certificate handling, remote certificate handling, and 24-hour certificate handling. 271 teams responsible for handling certificates for foreign buyers have been set up in the Canton Fair Complex, airports, ports and hotels, 34 more than the last session, greatly shortening the time for certificate handling during the peak period.
Second, the payment environment has been improved inside and outside of the complex. Foreign currency exchange machines and mobile POS machines have been equipped to enhance payment facilitation, so that foreign guests can use cash, foreign currency credit cards, mobile payment and other global payment methods in the Canton Fair Complex.
Third, transportation capacity has also been improved. There will be more subway trains operating during peak hours with more bus parking spaces in the complex.
Furthermore, a trade service zone has been set up with 209 trade service enterprises to provide logistics warehousing, testing and certification, financial insurance and other seven categories of services to help enterprises link the entire trade chain.
Reporter | Nancy Ye
Editors | Nan, Abby, James
Photo | Yangcheng Evening News
